Proportionalism Flashcards
Germain Grisez and the encyclical Humanae Vitae, 1968
He played an important role in this.
He went on to develop Catholic responses to abortion, euthanasia and so on.
Germain Grisez
He made his name defending church teaching on contraception.
He developed a meticulous argument that the “choice to contracept is a choice against human good of procreation and as such can never be justified.”
Grisez’s restatement of Natural Law
That human beings have real freedom and real moral responsibility. Short term happiness is nothing in relation to the long term and bigger picture.
For Grisez, what makes a good human life?
Self-integration, practical reasonable ness, authenticity, justice, friendship, religion, life and health, knowledge of truth, appreciation of beauty and playful activities.
Grisez and his naturalistic moral reasoning
He puts it in the context of scripture and Christian doctrine, this is not universally accepted.
What the problem of Grisez and his naturalistic moral reasoning?
Instead of basing is approach to Natural Law on observation of what a fulfilled human life should be like, Grisez imports theological assumptions which non-Catholics as well as Catholics would not accept in order to arrive at conclusions acceptable in the churchhhhh.
John Finnis and Law and Morality
They are closely related - similarly Aquinas believed that what is morally right and legally right ought to be the same thing.
what is Finnis seeking?
A universal basis for law which could be the foundations of international law and a basis for judging certain laws to be flawed. If a law is socially constructed then there is no basis for judging it outside of that society.
What does Finnis develop in his book “Natural law and Natural Rights”?
He develops a new version of Aquinas’ NL which he argued could be the basis for both moral philosophy and law. He argues that the asic goods of natural law appeal directly to reason without any need to make observations of nature.
Jean Porter criticism of Finnis
Porter argued that Finnis speaks of basic goods as if they were Platonic forms enjoying an existence of their own, not being clear about their logical or ontological status.
Robert George’s defence of Finnis
Attempts to defend Finnis, saying that the basic human goods are irreducible, self-evident truths.
Finnis argues that unless law is grounded in what it is to be human and relates to a moral code then humans will not be seeking the law that is morally right.
Finnis’ version of Natural law
Has a wide influence on politics and law. In his book he sets out the basic human goods: Life, Knowledge, Aesthetic appreciation, Play, Friendship, Practical reasonableness, Religion and the ‘marital good’.
The approach to Proportionalism of Hoose and Janssen
They say that their approach acknowledges the complexities of real life situations and the need to qualify every attempt at moral law.
Proportionalists would argue that there is only one way to teach people to be good; let people make real life decisions.
Proportionalists and the Catholic Church
They disagree in that people let the church make decisions for them. This approach is unrealistic and counter productive. People need to learn to be good. Bad people can do things for the wrong reasons. Many obedient Christians do what they do out of fear…are they really good people?
Proportionalists and Natural Law
They both look at what it is to live a good life, the difference at how these gods are applied.
Proportionalists argue that people should take a complete and long view of each action and it’s particular context. No two sitautions are identical and we should consider the effects each action will have.
